The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 18, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 03, 2002
Hiroshi Eda, Gunma-ken, JP;
Toru Segawa, Gunma-ken, JP;
Hiroshi Eda, Gunma-ken, JP;
Toru Segawa, Gunma-ken, JP;
NSK Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Provided is an electric power steering apparatus comprising a housing, a motor attached to this housing and transmitting an auxiliary steering force to a rotary shaft through a motor shaft, a worm formed on or fitted on the rotary shaft and having a gear portion formed of a metal or a resin, rolling bearings provided in the housing, disposed respectively in positions on both sides of the worm and rotatably supporting the rotary shaft, an output shaft transmitting a steering force for steering an axle and rotatably supported in a predetermined position of the housing, and a worm wheel formed on or fitted on the output shaft in a way that meshes with the worm and having a gear portion formed of the resin, wherein a pre-load mechanism for applying a pre-load acting towards the worm wheel is provided at a shaft end portion, distal from the motor, of the rotary shaft. The thus simply-constructed electric power steering apparatus is capable of eliminating an existence of a backlash and reducing tooth-butting noises without any decline of a power transmitting performance.